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<title>life wouldn't be so precious, dear (if there never was an end) by Anonymous</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27609029">life wouldn't be so precious, dear (if there never was an end)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Character Study, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Hurt No Comfort</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:42:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>857</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27609029</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Wilbur's thoughts preceding the moment that changed everything.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>spoilers for november 16th 2020 and the dream war.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>life wouldn't be so precious, dear (if there never was an end)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>ive bee n haunted by writers block for over a year. Thisnis all I can do rn</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It's so easy. too easy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Too easy to destroy everything he'd worked for- </span>
  <em>
    <span>they'd worked for. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Too easy to ignore the blood that was spilled in the wars, the friendships formed and lost along the way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And yet, Wilbur finds that there really isn't anything stopping him. He rambles to Phil, about how the land isn't </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> anymore, how it's built on death and destruction and therefore, that's how it should end, he recounts Eret's betrayal, that now feels </span>
  <em>
    <span>so </span>
  </em>
  <span>familiar; the button like an omen, the coldness of the raw stone around them, the, quieter now, sense of uncertainty. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Phil wants to stop him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wilbur doesn't trust him to. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He doesn't trust anyone, anymore. Especially not himself. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He closes his eyes briefly, remembers all the times he's stood there and </span>
  <em>
    <span>waited, </span>
  </em>
  <span>remembers when his plan, his </span>
  <em>
    <span>perfect plan, </span>
  </em>
  <span>didn't work out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But, for him… nothing ever does, really. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Starting an independent nation, being a ruler, keeping his family and friends safe… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In the end, he's failed everyone that once stood by his side and whether he presses the button or not, there's no repenting for the things that he's done. It's funny, how he'd hated Schlatt for being a greedy, money hungry </span>
  <em>
    <span>tyrant </span>
  </em>
  <span>who used people for his own gain; Schlatt, who died alone, yet surrounded by people because none of those people had any sympathy for him anymore. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It's funny, because Wilbur had become exactly what he had despised in others. He's a caricature of his former self, because the man who started and fought for the independence of L'Manberg is gone, and has been gone for a very, very long time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Independence or death, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he said, so long ago it now feels like a dream, back when he was still naive enough to believe that he could be the good guy. Back when he still had the support of his friends and family, and believed that he was the one on the right side of history.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now, he's older, perhaps not a lot wiser, but there are things he knows very well. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There is no right side here. Both sides have built themselves up on death and fear, preying on the weaker to get to their goals. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wilbur doesn't have the support anymore. It's expected, honestly, but the loneliness still weighs down on him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not even Techno, though they're </span>
  <em>
    <span>brothers. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Not even considering they're both the traitors. All Techno knows is bloodshed and chaos - and on that, he and Wilbur agree. They can bring it onto the people. But Techno was never behind any of them, never had any goals similar to them. All he would do is stand with whoever chose destruction.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And that person just happened to be Wilbur. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Wilbur looks back at Phil, ignores his crestfallen expression, and reminds his father of Eret's betrayal. He says the line- that same line that ruined his life in the fraction of a second, the line that might've set off the avalanche of his spiraling mind- and presses the button, laughing at the parallels.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The familiar hiss of TNT is almost drowned out by the buzzing in his ears as he braces himself for impacts, whole body vibrating in the mix of adrenaline and excitement. He turns to Phil and throws an arm up to what used to be his home.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>L'Manberg, once standing tall with its walls, has been reduced to nothing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wilbur's unfinished symphony; no one will finish it. No one will ever have the chance to touch it ever again, because if Wilbur can't do it, </span>
  <em>
    <span>no one can. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Even Tubbo, who's too loyal and too good to survive in a world like this. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Phil screams at him, voice full of fatherly disappointment and disbelief at what he had done. Somewhere in the background, Wilbur thinks he can hear Tommy yell, but the sight does nothing but fill him with joy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He'd done it. He'd done the thing he'd been dreaming about, spending days and nights thinking about, finally made sure that no one will ever be able to take his place as the one and only person that should have ruled. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Now, Wilbur thinks, is time to face the consequences. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He throws a diamond sword at Phil's feet, begs for his own father to kill him, to save everyone from his mind. Wilbur swallows down the rotten taste of guilt, and slumps to his knees, feeling the sins crawl down his back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Phil refuses at first, of course he does, but there is a certain look of understanding in his eyes that keeps Wilbur calm as the sword slices clean through him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It should hurt more, he thinks as he is slowly lowered to the ground by Phil's gentle arms, but all his limbs are slowly turning to dust, and soon there is no body to feel pain. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Wilbur is free. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And L'Manberg, his symphony, his magnum opus, has also been set free. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nothing will ever grow in the crater again, and no people will likely live there ever again. It's going to become an empty wasteland, haunted only by those who promised to rule it and keep it safe.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>first work in this fandom let's go</p></blockquote></div></div>
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